Bangladesh Nationalist Party

The Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) is a conservative political party in Bangladesh that was founded by the nationalist leader Ziaur Rahman on 1 September 1978. The BNP's goal was to unite the nationalists of the country, and it advocated for economic liberalism and generally right-wing views. In 1990, its student wing played a key role in overthrowing Hussain Muhammad Ershad's dictatorship and restoring democracy to Bangladesh, and it won four national elections and the presidential elections of 1978 and 1981. In 2014, the BNP boycotted the national elections in protest against the Awami League's persecution of its political opponents; its leader Salahuddin Quader Chowdhury was hanged in 2015 for war crimes committed during the Bangladesh Liberation War.